Like many little girls, a young Kristi Yamaguchi loved playing with Barbie.
This image provided by Mattel in April 2024 shows the company's Kristi Yamaguchi Barbie doll. Yamaguchi became the first Asian American to win an individual gold medal for figure skating at the 1992 Winter Olympics . With a schedule packed with ice skating practices, her Barbie dolls became her “best friends.”So, it's surreal for the decorated Olympian figure skater to now be a Barbie girl herself.
This isn't Yamaguchi's first doll depiction. In the '90s, touring show Stars on Ice put out a line of dolls modeled after notable skaters. The Barbie version is a lot more detailed. “When they found out I was getting a doll, they were kind of flabbergasted and being like, ‘What? Like Mom, like how do you qualify? But that’s way too cool for you,’” Yamaguchi said.
Sapna Cheryan, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington who served a year on Mattel's Barbie Global Advisory Council in 2018, said Asian Americans have long dealt with two stereotypes: the model-minority whiz kid or the perpetual foreigner. Toys can help dispel those myths, and instead signal acceptance and inclusivity.
Mattel has mostly garnered praise for its diversity efforts but it's had some missteps along the way. In 2021, the toy maker said it “fell short” by failing to include an Asian doll in a line of Tokyo Olympics-themed Barbies. In January, there was some backlash to Asian “You Can Be Anything” Barbies that seemed stereotypical. One was a violinist and the other a doctor in panda scrubs.
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